“Now it’s not the same excitement as if Georgia would’ve offered Jordan a long time ago, but we understand; It is what it is,” Colbert said. “Georgia knows what they are doing, and I like how they are doing it. They’ve got his cousin, Owens. They’ve offered his classmates, Fuller and Willis. And if they hire (DeVoursney), that would make a big, big difference.”

The reduction of training table to one meal per day took effect in the NCAA’s cost-cutting reforms of 1991. That was the same package that included the 20-hour rule, which has become a mockery, and the “restricted-earnings” assistants, who could be paid only $16,000 per year. The NCAA had to pay a $54.5 million settlement in 1999 to undo that decision. Undoing the cutback on meals nearly guts the entire reform package.

Mr. Ruiz, the former prosecutor who handled the case for the state attorney’s office, recalled that the coach at the time, the revered Bobby Bowden, attempted to convince him that a crime had not occurred. A jury eventually acquitted the player.

“I learned quickly what football meant in the South,” said Mr. Ruiz, who grew up in New York State. “Clearly, it meant a lot…”

He [Denny Murray, Aaron’s dad] also told me that Murray was hurt a lot worse than people thought in that 2010 game against Auburn in which Nick Fairley was allowed to unleash a personal assault. Murray actually left that game with a broken sternum, in addition to shoulder and knee injuries. [Emphasis added.]

It’s impressive that Aaron was able to finish the game. I’m not sure what adjective applies to Fairley being able to finish the game.